Privacy Policy for AppNexus Remarketing

If your business uses AppNexus remarketing technology, there are a few things that you must keep in mind to stay legally compliant for you start your first advertising campaign.

Remarketing, also commonly known as retargeting, is a very effective method of online advertising that shows your ads across different websites to anyone who has visited your website.

If you use AppNexus, you must update your Privacy Policy agreement to inform people that you're using remarketing.

This legal requirement isn't specific to AppNexus. AdWords, AdRoll, Twitter, Perfect Audience have this requirement.

Requirements for AppNexus remarketing

AppNexus services can prove to be a very successful method of bringing customers back to your website and increases sales that otherwise may have been lost. For example, say you run a website that sells furniture. When someone visits your website looking for a new dining room table and then leaves your website, that person will be shown ads for your dining room tables when they visit other websites.

The remarketing technology includes specific cookies that will track users across the Internet to show relevant ads to them. AppNexus, as well as other providers, use cookies to track visitors that reach your website and then leave.

This raises issues of privacy.

For example, Google AdWords requires a Privacy Policy agreement to be updated to reflect the use of remarketing features, and the "EU Cookies Directive" requires EU-based business (but also US-based businesses that sell in the EU) to inform users about cookies usage on your website.

While remarketing can be a great way to attract past visitors back to your site, you should inform these people that you gather information for remarketing or similar audiences on your website.

Whenever you start using AppNexus, you must make a few specific changes to your current Privacy Policy agreement:

• How exactly are you using AppNexus
• How AppNexus is using cookies to show your ads on other websites to users who have visited your website in the past
• How users can opt-out of being a part of your use of AppNexus

Each of these points is necessary and important, but perhaps the most important ones are the final point regarding opt-out information.

When you update your legal agreement to include the above points, include a link to the Opt-Out section of the Privacy Policy from AppNexus.

AppNexus makes it incredibly easy to opt out of their internet-based advertising by providing a button a user can click to place an opt-out cookie on the user's computer or mobile device. Below are the before and after images of the opt-out feature AppNexus provides for users.

If the user isn't opted-out:

If the user is opted-out:

Because AppNexus uses cookies, you must comply with the "EU Cookies Directive" if you're based in the EU or have customers in the EU.

This directive makes it a requirement that if cookies are used on your website or mobile app, you must provide clear notice to users that cookies are in use. You can also do this through a separate Cookies Policy agreement.

A popular method for meeting requirements of the "EU Cookies Directive" is to display a pop-up banner or footer notification to users the first time they visit your website.

Below is an example of a pop-up display on the BBC website.

BBC's banner gives users notice that cookies are used on the website, and gives them a link to change cookies settings, and obtains consent by letting users know that by clicking "Continue" consent will be assumed, and provides a link to the Privacy Policy of BBC by way of the "Find Out More link.

Note that you don't have to specifically mention the types of cookies in use in the notification. Just letting users know that cookies, in general, are in use is sufficient. In your linked Privacy Policy, you can get into the details of what cookies are in use, how, and why.

While remarketing with platforms such as AppNexus can be very beneficial to your business when it comes to converting customers, you must inform people of your use of such platforms. Your Privacy Policy page is the place to do this.

Include notices through your website and mobile app, as well as information in your Privacy Policy or Cookies Policy, to make sure you're compliant with the law when it comes to remarketing.

Example of Privacy Policy clauses

1. AirFrance's Privacy Policy

Below is an example from the Privacy Policy of AirFrance.

The "Marketing and Advertising Cookies" section separates out each of the different types of marketing and advertising cookies in use by AirFrance and what each type of cookie is for:

AirFrance's Privacy Policy also includes a "Cookie Management and Browser Setting" section that informs users how they can block or disable cookies. This gives users a way to opt out of any marketing or remarketing campaigns done by AirFrance:

2. GourmetAds' Privacy Policy

Another example of an informative legal agreement can be seen at GourmetAds. GourmetAds website specializes in advertising for food and wine companies.

Note how on their Privacy Policy page, GourmetAds lets users know how they are using cookies, and then directly underneath that section they provide information on how users can opt out of cookies usage.

This is very convenient for users:

Sections such as these are a great place to mention your use of AppNexus and provide a link to the Platform Privacy Policy of AppNexus and their Opt-Out page mentioned earlier.

3. Shazam's Privacy Policy

Shazam is a customer of AppNexus.

Here's how they present their use of targeting specific cookies in their Privacy Policy page. In the legal agreement, they include a "Use of Cookies" section that is broken down clearly and efficiently in a way that lets users see what types of cookies are in use, why they are used, and how they are used.

There's a specific section for "Targeting/Advertising" cookies:

The text makes it clear who uses these cookies and how the user will be affected:

These cookies are used by us and our business partners to send you adverts when using the Shazam websites and apps and to target those adverts to you and your interests. In doing this our business partners may use the profiles they have developed of other apps and websites that you have previously visited.

There is also information below the chart that provides links to information on how to stop or disable the use of these "targeting" cookies, as well as information on how to change the option from mobile devices.